Elon Musk goes on Twitter rant after reports that his mini submarine was 'not practical’

On Tuesday, the Thai government successfully completed the rescue of all 12 young soccer players and their coach from the narrow, treacherous cave system they had been trapped in since June 23. They did so without the use of the mini submarine that Elon Musk's team developed for the mission, and that the billionaire helped drop off on Monday in case it was needed as a backup.

The submarine arrived late on the second to last day of the mission. The person whom the BBC described as Thai NavySEAL's head of the rescue mission, Narongsak Osotthanakorn, told the BBC that "the equipment they brought to help us is not practical with our mission."

However, Musk was having none of that.

He took to Twitter Tuesday morning to defend his fun-size rescue invention. Musk claimed that Osotthanakorn was not the head of the rescue effort — that he was instead the former provincial governor. And that, instead, the REAL head of the rescue effort, Dick Stanton, was very into the kid-size submarine.

He even provided email proof.

The former Thai provincial governor (described inaccurately as “rescue chief”) is not the subject matter expert. That would be Dick Stanton, who co-led the dive rescue team. This is our direct correspondence: pic.twitter.com/dmC9l3jiZR

"Please keep working on the capsule details," Musk posted to his 22.3 million followers.

The BBC has not issued a correction of their characterization of Osotthanakorn. Previous reports confirm that he is the former provincial governor, as well as the leader of the rescue mission. The Guardian described him as "the head of the joint command centre coordinating the operation."

Just for good measure, Musk went on to tweet how the kid-size sub would definitely, for sure be useful in the future.

Moreover, based on extensive cave video review & discussion with several divers who know journey, SpaceX engineering is absolutely certain that mini-sub can do entire journey & demonstrate at any time.

He also took exception to dismissals of his work, just because he's a "billionaire." Man, billionaires, so misunderstood!!!

Ironically, the “billionaire” label, when used by media, is almost always meant to devalue & denigrate the subject. I wasn’t called that until my companies got to a certain size, but reality is that I still do the same science & engineering as before. Just the scale has changed.

Earlier, Musk tweeted about his visit, saying that he would leave the mini-sub — which he named the Wild Boar, after the soccer team — in Thailand, in case it would be of further use. He also, um, shared how beautiful he found Thailand to be.

Just returned from Cave 3. Mini-sub is ready if needed. It is made of rocket parts & named Wild Boar after kids’ soccer team. Leaving here in case it may be useful in the future. Thailand is so beautiful. pic.twitter.com/EHNh8ydaTT

According to CNBC's transcript of a press briefing, the Thai Prime Minister echoed Musk's sentiments about the Wild Boar potentially coming in handy in the future. He said that the tools Musk's team brought to Thailand were "useful" and could possibly be "modified and adjusted for future use."

Osotthanakorn response was more of a straightforward thanks-but-no-thanks.

"Even though their equipment is technologically sophisticated, it doesn’t fit with our mission to go in the cave,"Osotthanakorn said.

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